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Sony plans to boost battery capacities by 40% by 2020

Submitted by Jonathan Clifford on Sat, 12/19/2015 - 10:31

Japanese newspaper Nikkei has revealed in a recent report that Sony has efforts underway to bring about a 40 percent boost in battery performance; and commercially introduce the high-performance batteries within the next five years.

According to the report, Sony plans to replace the present-day lithium-ion batteries with lithium-sulfur as well as magnesium-sulfur batteries, to bring about a 40 percent gain in density by volume, by the year 2020.

The report has further elaborated that Sony’s efforts towards increasing battery performance by 40 percent by 2020 chiefly involve the company’s efforts to boost the 700Wh/L battery capability of the present-day lithium-ion batteries to 1,000Wh/L battery capability of lithium-sulfur batteries.

In addition, the report has also revealed that the revolutionary new battery product being initially targeted by Sony would be laminated batteries for smartphones; with the company having scheduled the commercialization of the batteries for 2020.

Meanwhile, with regard to one of the potential advantages of the increased capacities of lithium-sulfur batteries, it is speculated that a hypothetical lithium-sulfur battery will have a substantial impact on so-called “range anxiety” for electric vehicles. The reason behind this is the 40 percent more range which a lithium-sulfur battery will be able to offer, in comparison to a lithium-ion battery of equivalent weight. Likewise, lithium-sulfur could be used to make a much lighter battery at equivalent range to current lithium-ion battery.